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U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts agreed to
suspend his decision for 15 days, giving the government time to
appeal his latest ruling in the case. Murphy noted that the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in the administration’s favor last year,
pausing Murphy’s previous decision and clearing the way for a
flight carrying several migrants to complete its trip to
war-torn South Sudan, where they had no ties.
Murphy said migrants challenging the Department of Homeland
Security's policy have the right to “meaningful notice” and an
opportunity to object before they are removed to a third
country. The policy “extinguishes valid challenges to
third-country removal by effecting removal before those
challenges can be raised,” the judge concluded.
“These are our laws, and it is with profound gratitude for the
unbelievable luck of being born in the United States of America
that this Court affirms these and our nation’s bedrock
principle: that no ‘person’ in this country may be ‘deprived of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,’” Murphy
wrote.
In June, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority found that
immigration officials can quickly deport people to third
countries. Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown
Jackson dissented, saying the ruling gives the government
special treatment.
Murphy said President Donald Trump's administration has
repeatedly violated — or tried to violate — his orders. Last
March, he noted, the Defense Department deported at least six
class members to El Salvador and Mexico without providing the
process required under a temporary restraining order that Murphy
issued. DHS issued its new policy guidance for third-country
removals on March 30, two days after Murphy's order.
“The simple reality is that nobody knows the merits of any
individual class member’s claim because (administration
officials) are withholding the predicate fact: the country of
removal,” wrote Murphy, who was nominated to the bench by
Democratic President Joe Biden.
Murphy said the DHS third-country removal policy has targeted
immigrants who were granted protection from being sent back to
their home countries, where they feared being tortured or
persecuted in other ways.
Eight men who were sent to South Sudan in May had been convicted
of crimes in the U.S. and had final orders of removal,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have said.
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